I distinctly remember that conifer tree right there, Robot Derak Jones thinks while reviewing the appearance of (The Monster) night before last in his mind. Appearing and then fading away, like a noisy apparition. Never could find the source. Well today, he declares, I’m going to work a little harder at it, probe a little deeper.

His friend and neighbor Eraserhead Man suggested keeping his mind focused and looking for something red. “That’s what Gus remarked about the subject when I asked him,” EM said to RDJ yesterday evening after riding down on his John Deere tractor for another visit. At the exact moment he mentioned this, RDJ was looking at a flaming red maple tree framed against the night sky across the island sands, but thought this was just chance.

Opp has been missing a month now from his side. Annie and Karl, after the former painted the latter as what was obviously some kind of representation or stand in for the blue lad, left Pencil’s place last week to assume residency on the other side of the island. That’s when (The Monster) showed up. That, in fact, is when Pencil tossed his coffee into the fire at his home to produce Gus for the first time. Gus seems bound and determined to find that (Monster). I wonder why?

RDJ decides to check out the small house beside the tree.

“Oh. Sorry neighbor! Didn’t know anyone was here.”

“T’is alright,” the large, bathing man with a red beard spoke through the opening. “I’m a nudist anyway. No shame in a person finding another person naked. Thus the open door!”

—–

Red beard, Robot Derak Jones thought later while relaxing with Eraserhead Man on the sandy beach in front of his home and staring toward the same house. “Gus said to look for something red, right?” he asked of his friend.

“Right. And to keep your mind focused. If you do both you’ll probably succeed. Seems to always work for me.”